I may not be a mom that’s good at framing pictures or building scrapbooks. But I’m a mom that’s good at media production, and being able to include my kids in that skill and use it to build media memories I’ll have forever is everything.

As much as each of us enjoys feeling right, where does that get us if we never tap into what others experience? By practicing and perfecting empathy, you will be a smarter and stronger person than you were before.

My intent as a parent is to balance my support of the kids’ use of technology with a healthy dose of trembling awe. So it was with no small amount of hesitation that I finally ushered us into the realm of Messenger Kids by Facebook.

Through all of this, I’ve experienced an existence which I had only before observed. Sure, I’ve moved out of the way on the bus for a person in a wheelchair or with a cane, or I’ve offered to hold a door open longer to help them pass through. But seeing and knowing are not the same thing.

If you’ve checked your Facebook feed, or really any news related to business, economy, or marketing, there’s a massive buzz around the recent announcement by Mark Zuckerberg that the Facebook algorithm is changing. Nothing new, right?

Wrong. This change falls into the “once more with feeling” genre. Emphasis on the feeling.

Change. I’ve always thrived on how things change. As a child, I became used to our frequent moves from state to state (a natural consequence of having a father who worked for the federal government). As an adult, I rarely leased an apartment for longer than two years. My hair is always changing colors. Change is something I’m used to, so it doesn’t necessarily freak me out to the same degree as it does for others. Family. Ah, this is something I’ve been schooled on throughout my life, even when I didn’t realize it. As a child, I took for granted the constancy of my family. When my parents divorced during my teen years, the upheaval probably wreaked more havoc than I would acknowledge. As a young adult, I spent many years putting my family on the backburner while mistakenly prioritizing friends and even acquaintances over them. As an adult, […]

“Can I pick your brain over coffee?” “Can I call you and pick your brain?” “Can I pick your brain?” Ew. Are you tired of hearing this phrase used in every way imaginable? For those who use this phrase on others, let’s count the ways in which it is received. Then we’ll look at ways to avoid getting your brain picked over until there’s nothing left. You’re just sitting around waiting to help me. You don’t know how to do something, yet you know you’d like to learn. So you see an expert who appears successful at that thing. If your solution is to ask to “pick their brain,” you send them your assumption that they’re not working hard at their craft and just waiting for the next opportunity to be graced with this question. Wrong. If you can externally see someone’s success, you’re seeing the tip of the iceberg […]